Seven-year-old boy says his mother burned him in oven

AIRMONT, N.Y. -- A 26-year-old woman was arrested Friday and accused of burning her 7-year-old son in an oven, and a day-care worker was arrested for not reporting his burns, police said.

Authorities began investigating the family in November after the boy was spotted alone at a shopping center and told police he had run away because "his mother had put him in an oven and burned him as a punishment," the police account said.

The mother, Tiffany Fraser, of Tallman, was charged with assault and endangering a child.

The day-care worker, Joelle Lherisson, 37, of Airmont, was charged with failure to report child abuse.

They were arraigned in Airmont Village Court and released until their next court dates.

Fraser's lawyer, Edward Cigna, said he could not comment. There was no phone listing for either woman.

Lt. Brad Weidel of the Town of Ramapo police force, which covers Airmont, said the boy's burns -- on his nose, arm, hand and left leg -- were noticed at the daycare center in July, but the owner did not report them. In November, a customer at a shopping center in Tallman called police about the same boy because he was unaccompanied.

When the boy reported the oven incident, he and a sibling were removed from their home by the Rockland County children's agency and police began an investigation that led to both arrests, Weidel said.

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